April=Earth

The month of April was a busy time the River des Peres Watershed Coalition, and there were a host of events and projects to work on. It was rather difficult to decide what event to specifically mention in my blog so I decided to provide a little bit of information on a variety of events. April provided great opportunities to work on accomplishing our organizations’ goal of improving the natural habitat and water quality of the River des Peres. From our monthly planting events at Deer Creek Park (special thanks to the Cor Jesu Academy volunteers) and Mona Terrace, to The Green Center’s (our parent organization) Free the Forest, an annual planting event in Ruth Park Woods in University City, Mo (special thanks to Top Teens of America community service group).
The River des Peres Watershed Coalition's first official rain barrel workshop with Earthways St. Louis (Project of Missouri Botanical Gardens), took place on April 8th.For the workshop being the first of many, I felt it went fairly well, granted there's always room for improvement. A total of 20 people attended, (including some last minute attendees), at the workshop participants, learned about water quality issues affecting the River des Peres, the importance of rain barrels in reducing CSO's and other stormwater related issues (around house drainage issues and erosion), and built their very own rain barrel to install at their homes. I found out that coordinating a workshop doesn’t always go as planned, but like water, just to go with the flow. We covered our bases by pre drilling the larger 3-5/8 atrium grate holes, marking the correct drill spots based on the selected barrel configuration and individually packaging each participants parts. While we had parts for rain barrel creation, I found there are lessons to be learned for having enough minor parts such as enough string for participants to connect bulkhead fitting component of the barrel; Or having enough Phillips head screwdrivers, but the participants summoned their skills of sharing and the workshop went along fine. These minor snags will definitely be addressed by our next workshop. Our 2nd workshop with Earthways will be at the Earthways facility in midtown St. Louis. Currently it is booked solid and there is even a waiting list, so I figure we must be onto something good. An added bonus of the workshop was we had an extra barrel available, that the RdP decided to paint and use it for the RdP’s tabling events.
The barrel made its debut at our Earth Day tabling at Whole Foods Store in Brentwood, Mo. Our painting theme was obviously water, the prompt “The World Needs Water”, what things need water for life, we encouraged kids, and some kids at heart to join us for rain barrel painting and informational brochures on rain barrels and the watershed. I must admit I had a wonderful time at the Earth Day event; I was impressed by the artistry, and creativity of the painters. From Danelle Haake ‘s from memory recreation of the River des Peres Watershed, to the butterflies, birds, and trees that graced our barrel, through the help of volunteers and interested passers by. (Even the kid who made the fireball flower!).
On a cold, wet, and windy Sunday April 25th, I attended St. Louis’ Earth Day Festival in Forest Park. At this event we had two rain barrels featured at our table. One of the main goals of the RdP is to improve the water quality of the river; we do that primarily by means of rain barrels. Along those lines, life is better with options and we thought it should be so with rain barrels. So we presented out painted 60 gallon rain barrel, and our special ordered Riversafe rain barrel (132 gallon) holding capacity, with built in shut off valve, and mesh netting for easy cleaning and mosquito proofing. The RiverSafe rain barrel caught plenty of people’s attention and thusly took the spotlight at our table. Though the 60-gallon barrel works well my needs, I do think RiverSafe barrel is pretty nifty, requires less overall maintenance/storage, and provides another alternative for rainwater harvesting. Based on the interest garnered by the rain barrel, I hope that the RdP’s long term plan of local production of the RiverSafe rain barrel can come to fruition, and increase the desire for more citizens to get a rain barrel and better improve the water quality within their watershed. I felt that April (perhaps with the emergence of Spring weather and Earth Day) brought a great energy to the RdP, that we are using to propel us into more action for the month of May. I would like to end this entry by sending a thank you to all the volunteers involved with the River des Peres Watershed Coalition, including Cor Jesu, the volunteers from Reitz & Jens Engineering Company, and Top Teens of America, and a host of others for being a vital means of assistance in habitat restoration, rain barrel establishment, and environmental education outreach to citizens of the St. Louis area.